June 18, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



973 



more of formation names of my own invention 

 utilized in Mr. Gordon's article without credit, 

 at least, attest that the studies of the Texas 

 Cretaceous by me left some impress upon the 

 subject. 



EoBT. T. Hill 



THE DAYLIGHT SAVING BILL 



To THE Editor of Science: On page 453 

 of Science for March 19, 1909, a reference to 

 the "Daylight Saving Bill" is introduced by 

 the statement : " It is said that the Ohio state 

 legislature once passed a bill establishing the 

 value of TT to accord with the views of some 

 circle squarer." 



A declaration beginning " it is said " is 

 usually safe against correction, because any- 

 thing may be "said," but in this instance I 

 am moved to say that the laurel wreath has 

 been put upon the wrong brow. 



It was in Indiana, nearly twenty years ago, 

 that such a bill was introduced by a member 

 of the state legislature, but it was "laughed 

 out of court," after making some progress in 

 the lower house, as such measures often do 

 where not much attention is given to the real 

 meaning of every bill put upon the calendar. 

 As far as I know, the legislature of the state 

 of Ohio has not yet concerned itself with the 

 ratio of the circumference of a circle to its 

 diameter. After all, a good deal may be said 

 for a state legislature that has devoted even a 

 brief hour to an intelligent consideration of 

 the value of tt, and a careful investigation 

 might show that the ability to do this is by 

 no means restricted to regions east of the 

 Allegheny Mountains. It is a well-known fact 

 that of the Presidents of the United States 

 serving within the last half century (barring 

 one recently retired, who forms a class by 

 himself), the two who were most appreciative 

 of the work of scientific men and most capable 

 iDy reason of their own knowledge and experi- 

 ence, of determining its value, were chosen, 

 one from Ohio and one from Indiana, while 

 that one least so was from the great Empire 

 State. The record of the "middle west" in 

 this respect is sure to be maintained during 

 the administration just now beginning. 



It is a serious mistake to put the author 

 of the daylight saving bill in the same class 

 with the circle squarers. The measure has 

 been given much attention by all of the best 

 English newspapers and periodicals during the 

 past year and, with few exceptions, the criti- 

 cisms have been most favorable. The passage 

 of the bill has been urged by a very large 

 number of eminent Englishmen, including 

 many of the most distinguished men of science, 

 and the advantages its adoption would secure 

 are so many that it seems tolerably certain to 

 receive the approval of parliament in the not 

 distant future. 



T. 0. M. 



Dbesden, Germany 



library book-stacks without daylight 

 To TH'E Editor of Science : I was greatly 

 interested in the short abstract of Mr. Bernard 

 E. Green's address on " Library Book-stacks 

 without Daylight," which appears in Science 

 for April 9, 1909, p. 592. 



I remember very well probably five or six 

 years ago a conversation that I had with Mr. 

 Green in connection with the new library 

 building of the College of Physicians of Phila- 

 delphia, when I made the following sugges- 

 tions, which I would like to put on record for 

 the consideration of others. 



It seemed to me that the ideal book-stack 

 should be built with solid brick walls without 

 any openings of any kind, and that even in 

 the roof there should be no skylight and no 

 openings except for the chimneys and ventila- 

 tion. Artificial light could be turned on and 

 off at will and would provide amply and in- 

 expensively for the light. Forced ventilation 

 would keep the air pure. This method of con- 

 struction would have the following advan- 

 tages : 



1. A wall of solid brick is much cheaper 

 than one with openings for windows, which 

 must be filled with expensive wire glass, to 

 which must be added the cost of iron shutters, 

 with some automatic device for their closure. 



2. It is a much better protection against 

 fire. 



3. It excludes all dust. 



4. The book -stacks can be placed in the 



